April 15, 2016  |   

My name is Benjamin Nault, and I am a postdoctoral researcher at University of Colorado, Boulder. My research focuses on the chemistry of aerosols (which I will go into more detail in a later blog or when asked in comments).

This blog will be documenting my adventures during two NASA aircraft campaigns during this summer (2016). The first one, and my main one, will be located in South Korea from late April to mid June. My second one will be traveling from pole-to-pole. You can also learn about things my group, the Jimenez group, is doing by following updates located here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/118409622233241696363. Finally, you can also following updates from NASA here:  http://www.nasa.gov/content/2016-earth-expeditions-korus-aq.

At anytime, if you, the reader, has any questions concerning air pollution or atmospheric chemistry, feel free to ask in the comments.

Now to quickly get you caught up with what has been going on with the mission, especially if you have never experienced a science aircraft mission.

Since early March, scientist have been traveling to Palmdale, CA, where the NASA DC-8 is based.

NASA DC-8

The NASA DC-8 parked outside in Palmdale, CA.

 

During this time, the various science teams have been installing their instruments and inlets into the airplane. The inlet brings the air into the airplane to be sampled by the team’s instrument.
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The inlet that pulls air into my instrument.

 

My instrument, the high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer. I am busy calibrating the instrument in this picture.

My instrument, the high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer. I am busy calibrating the instrument in this picture.

 

The installation takes about 1.5 months. Here’s a time lapsed video of instrument installation from a prior campaign.

 

We are now at the end of the process, which leads to the next process — tests!! For example, today, the pilots and DC-8 crew will take the airplane on a short safety flight to ensure all the inlets and instruments are properly installed so that there no injuries occur during the mission. After that, the scientists participate in two science test flights. During these flights, the scientists are running their specific instruments to investigate how the instrument will perform during the actual mission. This allows the scientists to determine if anything needs to be fixed or improved in order to ensure the measurements are of the highest quality during the mission.

Future posts will include a description of my instrument, the science I’m interested in, and interesting things that are happening during these missions. I will post at least once at week. Stay tuned, and feel free to ask questions.